As we all know Lahore High Court has cancelled PTA's notification and issued notices to Chairman PTA to present his argument for the case and the justification for this Notification on 5th November 2012. The case has not been decided yet and could go either way. I think we should all write an open letter to The Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan to draw his attention to this case and register our concerns over PTA's decision to increase phone call costs. This would help to get the final decision in our favour. I am not a lawyer, however, I have drafted a letter which I am going to email to The Supreme Court of Pakistan at [email protected].
You could make any amendments as you wish. all suggestions are welcome.
Draft Letter
29 October 2012
Mr. Justice Ifitkhar Muhammad Chaudhry
The Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue
Islamabad
Dear Sir
Re: Appreciation of Lahore High Courts Decision of Cancellation of PTAs Notification
We would like to draw your kind attention to the on-going case in which the Honourable Judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has cancelled Pakistan Telecommunication Authoritys (PTA) notification and gave notices to the Chairman PTA to present his arguments for the case.
First of all, we would like to appreciate LHCs decision to cancel PTAs orders which has come as a big relief to about 7 million overseas Pakistanis living in all parts of the world. The cancelled PTAs notification had resulted in 600-700% increase in the cost of international calls to Pakistan. For example, the international calls from UK to Pakistan were costing between 2 to 3 US cents per minute before the notification which increased to 12 to 14 US cents after PTAs notification.
Contribution of overseas Pakistanis to Pakistans fragile and weak economy cannot be over emphasised. Every year, overseas Pakistanis contribute almost USD 10 billion in the form of foreign exchange remittances and the growth rate of these remittances stands at 20-25% which surpasses any growing economy of the world. This is their hard earned money which helps Pakistan to meet its international obligations.
It is irony that Government of Pakistan decided to drain the last drop of blood from overseas Pakistanis by increasing the cost of international phone calls while all over the world the international prices of phone calls are falling. PTA managed to do this by violating the Competition Act 2010 and defying Competition Commission of Pakistans (CCP) Order dated 08th of February 2012 whereby PTA was directed to obtain CCPs prior approval of exemption from Competition Act 2010 before entering into any agreement with LDI operators to establish an International Clearing House. CCP showed its serious concerns over the potential violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010. The said case has the reference no. File No. 2 (291)/AGR/EXMP REG/CCP/11 and can be found on CCPs website for further details please.
PTAs argument that the proposed clearing house is in the best national interest and it would generate USD 500-600 million annually could only be described as PTA's coward action to hurt the feelings of millions of overseas Pakistanis whose only way of keeping in touch with their families and loved ones is through phone. Instead of raising internal revenues and increasing exports, Government of Pakistan found an easy and a mean way to finance their luxurious life style by imposing unjustified tax on international phone calls and disguised it under the policy of best national interest. We do not have any objection to have international calls monitored under any established system to help reduce terrorism; however, this should not result in creating monopolies, fixing prices and imposing new taxes.
We sincerely hope that the Lahore High Court will cancel PTA's notification permanently keeping in view the details of this case and feelings of millions of overseas Pakistanis and the potential adverse effects of this notification.
Name and address of sender
End of Letter.
You could make any amendments as you wish. all suggestions are welcome.
Draft Letter
29 October 2012
Mr. Justice Ifitkhar Muhammad Chaudhry
The Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue
Islamabad
Dear Sir
Re: Appreciation of Lahore High Courts Decision of Cancellation of PTAs Notification
We would like to draw your kind attention to the on-going case in which the Honourable Judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has cancelled Pakistan Telecommunication Authoritys (PTA) notification and gave notices to the Chairman PTA to present his arguments for the case.
First of all, we would like to appreciate LHCs decision to cancel PTAs orders which has come as a big relief to about 7 million overseas Pakistanis living in all parts of the world. The cancelled PTAs notification had resulted in 600-700% increase in the cost of international calls to Pakistan. For example, the international calls from UK to Pakistan were costing between 2 to 3 US cents per minute before the notification which increased to 12 to 14 US cents after PTAs notification.
Contribution of overseas Pakistanis to Pakistans fragile and weak economy cannot be over emphasised. Every year, overseas Pakistanis contribute almost USD 10 billion in the form of foreign exchange remittances and the growth rate of these remittances stands at 20-25% which surpasses any growing economy of the world. This is their hard earned money which helps Pakistan to meet its international obligations.
It is irony that Government of Pakistan decided to drain the last drop of blood from overseas Pakistanis by increasing the cost of international phone calls while all over the world the international prices of phone calls are falling. PTA managed to do this by violating the Competition Act 2010 and defying Competition Commission of Pakistans (CCP) Order dated 08th of February 2012 whereby PTA was directed to obtain CCPs prior approval of exemption from Competition Act 2010 before entering into any agreement with LDI operators to establish an International Clearing House. CCP showed its serious concerns over the potential violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010. The said case has the reference no. File No. 2 (291)/AGR/EXMP REG/CCP/11 and can be found on CCPs website for further details please.
PTAs argument that the proposed clearing house is in the best national interest and it would generate USD 500-600 million annually could only be described as PTA's coward action to hurt the feelings of millions of overseas Pakistanis whose only way of keeping in touch with their families and loved ones is through phone. Instead of raising internal revenues and increasing exports, Government of Pakistan found an easy and a mean way to finance their luxurious life style by imposing unjustified tax on international phone calls and disguised it under the policy of best national interest. We do not have any objection to have international calls monitored under any established system to help reduce terrorism; however, this should not result in creating monopolies, fixing prices and imposing new taxes.
We sincerely hope that the Lahore High Court will cancel PTA's notification permanently keeping in view the details of this case and feelings of millions of overseas Pakistanis and the potential adverse effects of this notification.
Name and address of sender
End of Letter.
